New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal (NOUPT) is an intermodal facility in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, US. Located at 1001 Loyola Avenue, it is served by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...

, Megabus, and NORTA with direct connections to the Rampart–Loyola Streetcar Line. The station is the major southern terminus hub for

, serving three long-distance trains, the '' City of New Orleans,'' the ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

,'' and the ''

Sunset Limited The ''Sunset Limited'' is a long-distance passenger train run by Amtrak, operating on a route between New Orleans and Los Angeles. Major stops include Houston, San Antonio and El Paso in Texas, as well as Tucson, Arizona. Opening in 1894 thr ...

.'' Between 1993 and the strike of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

in 2005, the Sunset Limited continued east to Florida. Since the hurricane, New Orleans has been the eastern terminus of the route, although in 2016 Amtrak did propose bringing back service east of New Orleans. Amtrak operates a coach and engine yard near the terminal.

History

Union Passenger Terminal was built just west of the older New Orleans Union Station to consolidate the city's passenger rail operations. Previously, New Orleans had been served by five stations–Union Station, the Southern Railway Terminal, T&P Station, Louisiana & Arkansas Station, and Louisville & Nashville Station. Parts of the station property also are over what once was the turning basin for the New Basin Canal. The main lead track to the terminal follows the path of the old canal (which was filled in) and the

Pontchartrain Expressway The Pontchartrain Expressway is a parallel six-lane section of Interstate 10 in Louisiana, Interstate 10 (I-10) and U.S. Route 90 Business (New Orleans, Louisiana), U.S. Route 90 Business (US 90 Bus.) in New Orleans, Louisiana, ...

/ I-10. NOUPT was designed in 1949 by the New Orleans architectural firms of Wogan and Bernard, Jules K. de la Vergne, and August Perez and Associates. When it opened in 1954, it was considered an ultramodern facility, completed just at the time that air travel was taking off at the expense of rail travel. New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal Feb 2018 Interior

New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal Feb 2018 Interior

The stub-end terminal consists of covered platforms and a modern waiting hall. A long mural of Louisiana and New Orleans history, painted by Conrad A. Albrizio with the assistance of James Fisher, was restored after 2005's

. The freight and express houses are now the domain of the Smoothie King Center and Main Post Office. In the 1970s, parts of two platforms were shortened to allow for

to move its service there, creating an intermodal facility. Following

, Amtrak provided the first commercial transportation out of New Orleans. During the recovery efforts, the bus station at NOUPT was used for a temporary jail nicknamed Camp Greyhound. In January 2013, the station became the terminus for the new mile-long Loyola Avenue-Union Passenger Terminal Streetcar Line connecting Canal Street with the Central Business District and destinations such as the Superdome. The $52 million project was largely funded through a $45 million Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant awarded to the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Megabus started operations at the Union Passenger Terminal in 2015. Gulf Coast regional officials have been advocating for restoration of daily train service between New Orleans and Florida since 2016. In February 2021, it was announced that passenger rail service would return to the Gulf Coast with a new Amtrak route between New Orleans and . Stops include Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula. Service is expected to begin in June 2025.

References

External links

New Orleans Amtrak and Streetcar Station (USA Rail Guide — Train Web)New Orleans Regional Transit Authority

Southern High-Speed Rail CommissionThe Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University LibrariesPhotographs of Albrizio mural on FlickrArticle on restoration of Albrizio mural

{{Amtrak Louisiana stations Amtrak stations in Louisiana Transportation buildings and structures in New Orleans Union stations in the United States Railway stations in the United States opened in 1954 Economy of New Orleans Transit centers in the United States 1954 establishments in Louisiana Former Illinois Central Railroad stations Former Kansas City Southern Railway stations Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations Former Missouri Pacific Railroad stations Former Louisville and Nashville Railroad stations Former Texas and Pacific Railway stations Former Southern Railway (U.S.) stations